Gilgamesh wrote:Tanascuis does some things that Randmax does not. I like Randmax better for the planetary stuff, but I use Tanascuis to make use of the warp wells, check for errors, assign random fcs, etc.

I still can't quite get Randmax to run the planet *exactly* the way I want it to, but I'm getting better....

Use the following to randonize planets FC's.

-pN: process only planets of player N (1..11) (fcode randomization and structure building)

I haven't had a problem with the Random FC's.
I have had to create a ini for all the Special FC's so it wont change them.
Nothing worse than being in a game with Teleport, thinking you have 5 planets sending Cash, to one planet, just to figure out after 3 turns, those FC's aren't in the INI file so Randmax changes the FC's on those planets.
What nice is after you create the basic ini file, you use it for all games.
I have also noticed you need to do all other functions, like building ships, picking up money and supplies, before running Randmax, do your ship building and moving and then run Randmax last then make turn. WinPlan and Randmax don't communicate interactively, and if you run Randmax, and then have a ship pick up money, randmax has already spent the money building things.

Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference.
The US Marines don't have that problem.
President Ronald Reagan

Gilgamesh wrote:It happens automatically when I run Tanascuis. All you have to do is select it as an option while you're doing everything else. Like Randmax, select it once and it stays.

What we (I) need is tanascuis and randmax built into Echoview. Does somebody want to get to work on that?

Randmax is built into EchoView. When you run the randgen, and then in EchoView in the config you have to check the Allow Autobuild Support. Then you will see RandMax under utilities just like SB Plus and PWrap. You can even edit the randmax.ini global settings this way too for that particular game.(you still need to add in FC's for planets so it wont randamize the FC's)
This will allow you to use randmax in echoviews planet Dialog box. Make sure in echoviews Prediction, you select both Autobuild Structures and Simulate Randmax Taxation. If you want, I can post my starting ini file.
I put this in my vpworks directory at the beginning of every game just like scanmess, then I use EchoView from that point forward to edit the Randmax.ini file.

Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference.
The US Marines don't have that problem.
President Ronald Reagan

I use Echoview to set up my randmax parameters. It's a hang sight nicer than editing the ini in notepad, and I can check out the minerals/temp/natives to see what I want to do with that particular planet.

It would be good if all this can be done in one place. Right now I read the messages, check out the battles, move my ships and build new ships at the bases in Winplan, checking in with EV all the while to see what happened before, who owns that planet I'm going to next turn, etc. Then I update my planets in EV to add any new planets that I want to handle differently from the standard, then I run Randmax, then I go into Tanascuis to do the warp wells and FCs, run the check, and finally back to Winplan to make the turn. It would be great if all that could be done from the same interface, but not a big deal.

Gilgamesh wrote:I use Echoview to set up my randmax parameters. It's a hang sight nicer than editing the ini in notepad, and I can check out the minerals/temp/natives to see what I want to do with that particular planet.

It would be good if all this can be done in one place. Right now I read the messages, check out the battles, move my ships and build new ships at the bases in Winplan, checking in with EV all the while to see what happened before, who owns that planet I'm going to next turn, etc. Then I update my planets in EV to add any new planets that I want to handle differently from the standard, then I run Randmax, then I go into Tanascuis to do the warp wells and FCs, run the check, and finally back to Winplan to make the turn. It would be great if all that could be done from the same interface, but not a big deal.

I'm finding randmax is a real timesaver and worth the extra steps.

I understand now. I would love to find a way to modify EchoView to move ships and make turn.
Remember you still have to use that notepad to enter in all those silly Planet FC's for all the different Addon's.

Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference.
The US Marines don't have that problem.
President Ronald Reagan

Shardin5 wrote:
I understand now. I would love to find a way to modify EchoView to move ships and make turn.
Remember you still have to use that notepad to enter in all those silly Planet FC's for all the different Addon's.

That's true but I just copy and paste from the documentation into the list of "don't change" fcs. Once and done - gotta love it!

It would be nice to play the whole turn from EV. I have two monitors now so I usually have Winplan in one monitor and I drag EV to the other. Especially handy with NAPs that have a defined border. I draw border lines in EV but if I don't check it regularly I've been known to accidentally stray over the line into "forbidden" territory.